The former Portuguese international, who died earlier this year, was widely recognised as one of the finest players of all time, and Pele, who won the World Cup with the Selecao three times, says that the Real Madrid forward reminds him of his late friend.

Pele told Time magazine: "Cristiano never ceases to give his best for his national team. He reminds me a bit of my late friend and Portuguese soccer legend Eusebio.

"They have the same elegance and creativity. Back when I played, I would have loved having a teammate like Cristiano to play with up front.

"I would like to encourage him to keep up the hard work and to continue to fuel the passion for the sport among today's youth."

Ronaldo was part of the Los Blancos side that beat Bayern Munich 1-0 in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday evening.